BBC Storyville'sWhy Poverty? is an initiative that was announced last fall that saw a set of 8 ground-breaking international documentaries that screened in November in 180 countries, each exploring why, in the 21st century, 1 billion people still live in poverty.

One of the film entries was Poor Us: An Animated History, directed byBen Lewis, the film's synopsis reads:

The poor may always have been with us, but attitudes towards them have changed. Beginning in the Neolithic Age, Ben Lewis's film takes us through the changing world of poverty. You go to sleep, you dream, you become poor through the ages. And when you awake, what can you say about poverty now? There are still very poor people, to be sure, but the new poverty has more to do with inequality…

This initiative's initial announcement came the day after the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which fell on October 17th.